Off Topic Insurance fraud

[rooch 3]

On the news this morning it was said that insurance companies were putting up car insurance this year as there were 170,000 fraudulent cases last year, so if they knew that there were 170,000 fraudulent cases why did they pay them out and if they didn’t why is insurance going up. Am I missing something here?

 

[Gordon Armstrong]

They won't have paid them out, but it will have cost them a considerable amount to investigate each case . . . . something that they'd have no choice about doing

 

[SAFCDRUM]

They won't have paid them out, but it will have cost them a considerable amount to investigate each case . . . . something that they'd have no choice about doing

Correct. Its cheaper for insurance companies to pay out on potentially fraudulent claims than it is to investigate and dispute them.

 

[samwise_new]

for the same reason if you have been caught without insurance, then try to get insurance your premium will rocket...insurance companies are a law unto themselves and just like charging you more each year, last 'major' rise in premiums was during the car stealing craze of the 90's although premiums did not drop when all that fell to far lower levels, now they blame fake claims.

 

[Ozzymac]

I'm an insurance loss adjuster and believe me it's only the tip of the iceberg.

There's the blatantly obvious fraud and then there's inflation of the loss. One of the funniest i've witnessed myself was where a woman was claiming that a new Stihl brushcutter had been flooded when a culvert overflowed and had to be thrown out. She had the receipt and it all appeared reasonable until her six year old son said "no it didn't mummy, you put it under the bed"

 

[Vincemac]

Never loose these insurance company’s

 

[Ozzymac]

Never loose these insurance company’s

One off events maybe not but all the insurers here copped a huge loss when the bushfires hit last year followed by floods.

In NZ the Christchurch earthquakes have cost them a fortune as well.

 

[Gil T Azell]

Should insurance costs not be dropping? More people working at home, less cars on the road means less chance of crashes surely.

 

[Bizarreknives]

I'm a senior fraud analyst for a large car insurance company and my department has grown from 16 people this time last year to over 90 now. Car insurance fraud is massive, its not just fraudulent claims but also point of quote fraud where people deliberately disclose wrong information to obtain a cheaper premium. Its estimated everyone's premium in the UK has increased by £50 due to the costs involved in fraud prevention.

 

[Gil T Azell]

I'm a senior fraud analyst for a large car insurance company and my department has grown from 16 people this time last year to over 90 now. Car insurance fraud is massive, its not just fraudulent claims but also point of quote fraud where people deliberately disclose wrong information to obtain a cheaper premium. Its estimated everyone's premium in the UK has increased by £50 due to the costs involved in fraud prevention.

I bet the %age of successfully prosecuted fraudsters is very low. Bloody annoying.

 

[Ozzymac]

I'm a senior fraud analyst for a large car insurance company and my department has grown from 16 people this time last year to over 90 now. Car insurance fraud is massive, its not just fraudulent claims but also point of quote fraud where people deliberately disclose wrong information to obtain a cheaper premium. Its estimated everyone's premium in the UK has increased by £50 due to the costs involved in fraud prevention.

I think you'll find that a lot of people worldwide are inflating claims due to financial difficulties as well. Motor Vehicle is a bit different as most are repairable, but a nicely painted car generally sells for a bit more.
I work in commercial and domestic property insurance and a lot more people are hoping for a cash settlement compared to 24 months ago

 

[Porterfield73]

Should insurance costs not be dropping? More people working at home, less cars on the road means less chance of crashes surely.

mine did, got a huge reduction last year when my local insurance office rang about renewal. I explained that i'd hardly done any miles due to pandemic and they knocked a canny lump off, hoping for a repeat this year.

 

[SAFCDRUM]

Should insurance costs not be dropping? More people working at home, less cars on the road means less chance of crashes surely.

That's how I lost my ****ing job.

 

[Nig]

I'm a senior fraud analyst for a large car insurance company and my department has grown from 16 people this time last year to over 90 now. Car insurance fraud is massive, its not just fraudulent claims but also point of quote fraud where people deliberately disclose wrong information to obtain a cheaper premium. Its estimated everyone's premium in the UK has increased by £50 due to the costs involved in fraud prevention.

I have a clean licence, no convictions and many years no claims,
(touch wood)
Sometimes I can't understand the insurance system though.
I got a quote through go compare for a 2nd car and it was about £179.
Realising I had put my no claims in and you can only use it on one vehicle ( a con like tax because you can only drive one at a time)
I got re quoted with zero no claims.

It came back at about £173 ffs

 

[Nig]

A few years ago there was a bus crash scam here where a van nudged the bus and around 26 people claimed for whiplash etc.
Investigators found the bus only ever had 1 or two passengers at that time of day.
There's also video evidence from inside the bus etc.
The local claims for injury firm were in on it and I think the boss was sentenced to prison.
Apparently this sort of thing goes on regularly just like the tossers who pull in front of you and slam on the brakes etc.

 

[Porterfield73]

'crash 4 cash' radio 2 had a feature on it the other day. The scammers would engineer a little shunt in traffic, exchange details then go off and trash their own car up to increase the damage/claim. Expert on the show said if you're involved always take loads of photographs of both vehicles at the scene to prevent this. Cheeky buggers also had pre-printed list of their insurance details to hand over.

 

[SAFCDRUM]

Ghost passengers was my favourite. 12 people in your Ford fiesta are you sure?

Very difficult though to disprove a whiplash claim, even with minor damage. Easy couple of grand.

 

[rooch 3]

A few years ago there was a bus crash scam here where a van nudged the bus and around 26 people claimed for whiplash etc.
Investigators found the bus only ever had 1 or two passengers at that time of day.
There's also video evidence from inside the bus etc.
The local claims for injury firm were in on it and I think the boss was sentenced to prison.
Apparently this sort of thing goes on regularly just like the tossers who pull in front of you and slam on the brakes etc.

Had that done to me about 3 years ago,

 

[Nig]

Had that done to me about 3 years ago,

You slammed up someone's arse ?

 

[Makemstine Roger]

thank your lucky stars mate average quotes in Germany 35 years no claims is around the 600 quid a year, mainly because all cars are are normally damaged on the autobahn and result in being totalled, and good luck with a whiplash claim here,